WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF AUTISM?

As a rule, parents begin to worry about the development of their child, when his/her age is approaching two years. Prior to this, any lag and deviation can be explained by the individual characteristics of the baby, and we can hope that they will gradually be smoothed out. By the age of two, an ordinary child, as a rule, possesses the simplest skills, but even when this does not happen, he still understands what adults want from him. The same is true of the language: if he does not yet speak, he understands the speech addressed to him is quite decent, as can be judged from his reactions.

Let's try to list the oddities in the development and behavior of the child, which causes parents to fear:

the child does not look into the eyes;

speaks of himself in the third (he) or in the second (you) person;

all the time repeating words, phrases;

the child began to speak the first words, but the speech was lost;

not interested in toys;

is not interested in peers, does not play with other children;

the child is suspended, ignores his mother, does not respond to requests, does not respond to his name;

shakes his head, hands, swings;

gnaws fingers, hands;

beats himself in the face;

the child has hysterics, attacks of aggression;

afraid of strangers;

frightened by sounds, trembling.

If any of these traits are inherent in your child, it is not necessarily autism. However, it is worth taking care of.

There is such a short diagnostic test, consisting of three questions:

Does your child look in the same direction as you do when you try to draw his attention to something interesting?

Does the child indicate something to attract your attention, but not to get what you want, but to share your interest in the subject?

Does he play with toys, imitating the actions of adults? (He pours tea into a toy cup, puts the doll to sleep, does not just roll the machine back and forth, but brings in cubes to the construction site in the truck).

If the answer to all three questions is negative, the parents of a 2-3-year-old child have reason to take the child to a specialist. If, on the contrary, it is positive, then, most likely, the delay in the development of speech and the mastery of skills has another reason, not autism.

Behavior Of A Small Autistic
Autism - is primarily a violation of communicative function, the child's contact with the people around him. The child lives in the world of visual images, sounds, tactile sensations, but the impressions for him are valuable, he does not seek to share them with his mother or father, who perform exclusively instrumental functions for him, being sources of food, warmth, comfort. For these children, repetitive, obsessive actions are typical: someone turns around for hours all the revolving objects that come under the arm, from a small ball to the lid of a large saucepan, watches the water pouring out of the tap, someone builds cars or cubes, someone plays with a thread, winding it on a finger or shaking it in front of her eyes. They can be dizzy for a long time in one place or walk around the room on tiptoe with circles.

Often, small autistics are extremely musical: they get obvious pleasure from their favorite musical works, melodies and even individual sounds. A three-year-old can go absolutely by indifferently past a peer with a remotely operated machine, but to come to an indescribable delight at the sound of the battle of the clock at the cathedral.

The small autistic looks confident and independent. Walking, he goes alone, resists an attempt to take his hand, and only being frightened of something, for example, a big dog, hides behind an adult. But his fears are not always understandable from the point of view of ordinary logic: he is afraid of a vacuum cleaner, he is scared by noisy, crowded places, but as a rule he does not realize the danger associated with the height or traffic, can jump out onto the roadway and even lie down across.

As a rule, he stops the mother's attempts to calm him, to caress, to embrace, pushing her away from herself. What to say about physical contacts with strangers, a doctor or a hairdresser, for example. Medical examination or haircut become stress for all participants of the process due to violent resistance. Feeding is also a problem. The child is so selective in food that sometimes his diet consists of only three to four dishes (for example, cottage cheese, porridge, banana), all the rest is unconditionally rejected.

If these and other unusual habits are present in child, it is better to talk to a specialist.